How to get rid of raccoons

Confirm it’s a raccoon

Raccoons are heavy and active at night. If it sounds like a small person walking around overhead after dark, and especially if you hear chittering, that weight and that sound point to a raccoon rather than a squirrel. Torn soffits, a lifted roof vent, or pulled-back shingles at the entry are the giveaway outside.

Assume there are kits

From spring into midsummer, a female raccoon in an attic or chimney almost always has young. This changes everything: sealing her out leaves the kits to die inside, and a mother separated from her young will work hard, and destructively, to get back to them.

If it’s in the chimney

Don’t light a fire and don’t try to smoke it out, it’s often a mother with kits on the smoke shelf. The safe approach is professional removal followed by a proper chimney cap so it can’t happen again.

The safe way to remove them

1. Inspect. Confirm the entry, whether there are kits, and the extent of any damage.
2. Remove humanely. The young are removed and the mother is trapped or excluded, on a timeline that keeps the family together and alive.
3. Seal and cap. The entry is closed with strong materials and fasteners, and chimneys are capped. Raccoons are powerful, so the repair has to hold.
4. Clean up. Raccoon latrines are a health concern, so contaminated insulation is removed and the area disinfected.

Prevent the next one

Secure trash cans, bring pet food in at night, cap the chimney, and keep an eye on soffits and roof vents for weak spots. Raccoons follow easy food and easy shelter, so removing both is what keeps them moving on.

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